Posted on 08/20/2002 4:25:42 AM PDT by kattracks
I'm expecting these good folks to listen closely to President Bush's speech, and then use legal challenges to derail efforts to clear out forest areas thick with tinder-dry brush.
You give them too much credit. IMO almost all of the Left's craziness comes down to this: If an idea feels good, then it is good.
The first idea is "leave the forest alone". Now, isn't that nice? The other idea is "protect the forest". That's a nice idea too, isn't it? But, taken together, this means: let fallen limbs and trees build up. Do not clear this tinder. A waist-deep layer of dry rotting wood is perfectly fine for a forest. Also, if a small fire starts, make sure to put it out. This saves the forest (today) but lets that layer of dry, dead wood get ever higher.
Then, when a fire gets out of control and cannot be stopped, it will become massively out of control and huge areas of the forest will be destroyed. All because the Leftists had two nice ideas, but didn't understand the big picture.
Well, there's a bit more than ferns and ivy on the forest floor. Think of all the young trees. Think of everything the forest creatures eat (they don't each up to eat evergreens 10 feet off the ground). But the most important fuel for the fire are the rotting logs you mention. Fallen limbs and dead trees left standing (or fallen over). These are very dry and in some areas are several feet deep. It turns the forest into one very large fireplace. Kindling on the bottom, large logs on the top. It's perfect if you want a massive fire.
Speaking as someone who used to do a lot of backpacking I know that thick underbrush and dense sapling growth is not a characteristic of a mature forest. It IS a characteristic of a young forest or a cleared area that gets a lot of sunlight. I am not saying a mature forest is fireproof,...yes it has logs and leaves..I am just puzzled over this particular point which doesn't jibe with my own direct observations.
Click in the key words, Rural Cleansing, in the key word section of this thread for an incredible one month of threads re these Green Rural Cleansing Fires across Oregon.
Here's an article by nunya bidness (Sean Finnegan) written for Sierra Times. He will be writing regular updates on the Sawgrass Rebellion for ST. This article includes a review of Carry_Okie's book.
Intended Consequences: Natural Process v. Environmental Arrogance By Sean Finnegan
In their mind, all Americans should be in the cities and the forests should be off limits. Burning down millions of acres inm order to take out a few hundred houses helps the cause, especially if the owners don't rebuild. The end justifies the means.
EBUCK
It's called "Rural Clensing." - Their objective is to implement U.N. Agenda 21, which calls for forcing people out of rural areas and into the teeming urban cesspools where they are more easily controlled.
The environmental angle is a ruse to cover up a deceitful, and depraved social agenda.
What you describe is what happens in isolated meadow lands when a forest is allowed to grow out of control. - When one of these areas burns, it is usually because a fire in the surrounding normal forest has crowned out, and the result is total and permanent destruction.
Trees should never be allowed to fill a meadow, as that will render the area useless as habitat for deer, moose, elk, and other grazing/foraging animals, as well as limiting the food sources of raptors, which require extensive grass and low brush areas to supply the rodents for their diet.
Pres. Bush will arrive at the Medford Airport Thursday on Air Force One at 9:55 a.m.(pacific) and then tour some of the fire damage. He will make his speech at the Compton Arena at the Jackson County Fairgrounds in Central Point at 12:45 p.m. The speech is by ticket only, so I do not know if there will be any other access for the public.
I will try to take pictures!!
We would not have west nile virus if not for these environwackos banning DDT and next will be a ban on farting...as they will say this gas is harmful as well. :-)
They are also desperate. The lies, distortions and half-truths are getting exposed daily, just like their mommy organization, the DNC.
We all know what a cornered and wounded wild animal is capable of doing, and I think we are starting to witness the viscious fight coming.
I read the WSJ article when it first came out. Talk about a stake in the heart. I love that paper.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.